Stories in the Garden
by Qzil
Summary: Odette has to be reminded that life is not a fairytale. Tulio/Odette, for The Domain's Fairytale Challenge.


Written for The Domain's fairytale challenge. So, I decided to write my favorite crossover couple. I have no idea if the timelines match up or not, but most crossover vid makers/writers/artists will agree that if you can't explain the time difference, ignore it. Works much better. :D

I also have no idea what winter is like in Spain.

While I feel like the characters (Tulio especially) are a bit OOC at times, I do feel like I got Odette the best in this fic. Enjoy.

xxx

Odette has to be reminded that her life is not a fairytale.

Every summer, she visits Derek. Every winter, she visits her aunt in Spain. When she visits Derek, they fight and yell and call each other names. Odette cries and Derek taunts her until she wishes he were dead.

She tells her father that she does not want to marry him. That he is not kind or noble like the princes in her books. Every year she tells him.

And every year he tells her that life is not a fairytale, and sometimes we have to marry people we don't want to, even if they don't have princely qualities.

Then he ships her off to Spain to get aquatinted with her uncle's children from his first marriage. They're not too closely related, and her father figures she should have something to fall back on should she and Derek not wed.

In Spain she meets her prince. He's not _really_ a prince, just the son of one of the gardeners. But he has the princely qualities of the princes in her books, so Odette figures she can overlook him not being a_ real_ prince.

His name is Tulio, and he is poor but kind. He helps her with her Spanish, and she teaches him English and sneaks him extra food. She hides from her cousins (because they are gross boys, unlike her princely friend, who spit and fart and hit) and spends her days with him instead.

When she's just old enough to start outgrowing her poofy dresses and really crush on a boy, he kisses her on the cheek and mumbles about how he'll see her next winter.

And when Odette goes home, she dreams of being married to the garderner's boy. Even though, deep down inside, she knows that she's only fooling herself. In real life, princesses don't marry the sons of gardeners.

xxx

The first year she shows up in Spain without her girly dresses, her cousins assume that they can roughhouse with her. Odette can roughhouse with them to a point, but when they start biting and grabbing places they shouldn't, she excuses herself to walk in the gardens.

The trees are bare this late in the year, just like all the winters that she's been in Spain. She blushes a little, thinking of the gardener's boy and the kiss on the cheek from last year.

And this time she has to remind herself that being a princess in real life doesn't mean you get to live a fairytale and marry anyone you want. That unless Tulio gets a genie like in that one story marriage isn't even possible for the two of them.

An apple, obviously imported, hits her in the shoulder. She spins around and sees her prince, with messy black hair and dirty peasant clothes, smiling like a crazy cat.

And she smiles back at him.

Odette can't help hate Derek and Brom when she compares them to Tulio. She's met his other friend, Miguel, a few times, and they include her like one of the guys in her games. Unlike Derek and Brom, who taunt her and ignore her, calling her too girly for their games. Unlike Tulio (and sometimes Miguel) who go out of their ways include her in their games and light roughhousing.

Sometimes Odette thinks Tulio and Miguel have crushes on one another, the way they shove and tease. Then she sees Miguel flirting with a shopgirl whenever they sneak into town.

Miguel and Tulio teach her how to play cards whenever they sneak into town to cause a little trouble. Sometimes they steal bread or some meat, and other times they steal money from her uncle to buy food and stupid, frivolous things, like candy and small toys.

And when her father sees the dreamy look in her eyes Odette knows that he thinks she is thinking of Derek. She doesn't correct him.

xxx

About the time her father tells her that childhood is over and that she should start dressing like a lady, Odette puts away her childish books. She trades tunics and leggings for clean dresses, and stories with handsome princes for sensible books about war and human redemption. She no longer plays in the gardens or rolls in the dirt. Instead, she learns to ride her horse saddle side and the art of being a lady.

She accepts the fact that she will have to marry Derek for the good of her kingdom, and if not him than her cousin in Spain, who's grown up fat and stupid. She picks Derek, because she likes him better than the cousin in Spain.

When she goes to Derek's castle in the summer months she flirts innocently with the guards, her own small way of protesting the arranged marriage. She beats him at cards (silently thanking Tulio for teaching her all the games and how to cheat), and sometimes playfully flirts with Derek, never offering true affection. Like a proper lady, she worries over her hair and table manners and learns from Uberta how to be the womanly head of the household, organizing servants.

Only when she visits Spain in the winter does she feel like a real teenager, and not the "young lady" her father insists she dress and act like. Every year Tulio pesters and throws apples at her back, trying to get her attention to come and have some fun like in the good old days. Every year, she tells him that it's inappropriate she run around with him unchaperoned, and that the trouble they used to get into is unladylike.

And every year it only takes him a few days to break her down and have her in a dirty dress borrowed from her maid, running around in the streets and slinging mud at one another. Once she's dirtied up enough, they go out and steal, or beg, for money or food. Sometimes they pretend that they're married and she's pregnant, and they need money to feed her. Sometimes they pretend they've got other kids. Sometimes they pretend she's insane.

Odette likes the days when they pretend to be married and pregnant the best. She can pretend, if only for an hour or two, that fairytales can happen, and that it is possible for princesses to marry peasants.

And for a while she can forget going home and having to be ladylike and marrying Derek. Instead, she can dream like a little girl again.

She doesn't bother reminding herself that fairytales don't come true for real princesses, because when she's sharing a freshly-stolen loaf of bread with Tulio while making up names for their fake kids, she feels like she's in one.

xxx

The last winter before she has to make the decision to wed Derek or her cousin, she spends every day with Tulio. Miguel is around less, helping to support is fairly large family, but she spends as much time as she can with him.

She likes both of them. Miguel is so blonde, with a long neck like her, that he could pass as her brother. He kind of acts like one, glaring at boys who look at her suggestively in town. The three of them don't go as often now that Odette is older and easily missed.

That last winter is a little like the old days, with apples being thrown around and Odette nicking money and food for Tulio and Miguel. All of them are nearly adults now, turning eighteen in the early or late spring. Miguel jokes about how he and Tulio will have to get real jobs now, and that Odette will probably have her hands full with a bunch of mop-headed children.

"I guess sometimes it sucks to be us, doesn't it?" Miguel jokes one day. Odette laughs but agrees. It sucks to be female. It sucks to be a peasant. Sometimes it even sucks to be royalty. Then Miguel or Tulio crack a joke and the three of them are howling with laughter, holding onto each other so they don't fall out of the tree they love to perch in.

The last week of winter, Odette hugs the two of them and cries, wishing for the millionth time that she was born in Spain, or they in her country, or that life was really a fairytale and they could all stay friends and laugh in their tree forever. Miguel excuses himself, uncomfortable around crying girls. Tulio pats her on the back and hugs her.

"It's not like you'll never see us again," he tells her. This is the first time she's cried in front of him, or acted weak and girly. She can tell he disapproves. His tolerance for weepy people is about the same as his tolerance for stupid people.

"Yes, it is," she tells him, voice so low he can barely hear her. "Even if it isn't, the three of us will never be like this again." Her shoulders hunch and she drops to the ground, not caring about staining her dress or getting dirty. "I don't want to marry Derek."

"Then don't," he tells her, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"If I don't marry him, I have to marry my cousin here. I don't want to do that, either."

"Then don't."

She looks at him, hands in his pockets, messy black hair barely tamed in a ponytail, and blue eyes staring her down._ I love him. _

"It's not that simple," she argues. "I have a duty to my father and my kingdom. If I don't marry, we won't have a king." Tulio shrugs.

"Who says you need a king? You seem pretty capable of running the country yourself." Odette looks down at the dirt under her feet.

"I love you," she tells him. "I spend every winter wishing I was born here, or that you were born back were I live and I was a peasant or you were royalty." Tulio doesn't answer, and Odette brings her knees up to her chin. Finally, he speaks.

"Okay then. Just marry me instead of the mop-head or the fatso." Odette turns to look at him, opening her mouth to protest. "And don't give me any of those excuses saying princesses can't marry peasants. You're a princess, you can marry whoever the hell you want."

"Life isn't a fairytale, Tulio," she shoots back. "That doesn't happen in real life. I don't have the power to marry anyone I want." He's quiet for a few minutes, staring at her with his brows knitted together in thought. She stares at the ground for a few moments before getting up and brushing off her dress.

"It's your life, Odette. It can be whatever you want it to be."

Odette stops in the middle of brushing dirt of her backside and stares at him. Finally, she turns her head and stares at the ground. "I couldn't do that to you. You're always talking about how you want a life full of adventure, and how you and Miguel don't want to be stuck here for the rest of your lives. If you marry me you'll be trapped in the castle. You'll be a king and have to deal with people and meetings and laws. You couldn't just run around in the streets or steal from merchants or gamble. I couldn't do that to you."

"You're just making excuses now, Odette," Tulio tells her. Odette shrugs this time, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Maybe...maybe in another life we were meant to be together," Odette tells him. "I want to marry you. Believe me, I do. It's just...it's impossible without hurting someone or ignoring my duty to my country. I'm sorry."

"So you're just going to give up?" Tulio asks, looking straight at her. Odette lifts her gaze from the ground, looking past him.

"Yes," Odette tells him. She steps forward and puts her hand out, waiting for a handshake. "Goodbye, Tulio." He doesn't take her hand, doesn't move any closer to her. Instead, Odette watches as his face twists in anger.

"You're just not thinking of all the possibilities. They've slammed your 'duty' into your head for so long that you're not thinking. You're talking about chaining me down or your country falling apart and you're not realizing that there are alternatives to you getting married and ruling! You have cousins who could take your place! Your father could easily marry and have another child! Odette, _you're not thinking clearly!" _Tulio yells, pacing back and forth in front of her. "You're just scared!"

Slowly, Odette's arms drop to her sides and her shoulder's hunch again. "Yeah," she says quietly. "I am scared."

"So get over it."

Odette looks up to see that Tulio has stopped pacing, and is instead standing in front of her with his hands jammed in his pockets again. She thinks of the cousins that could possibly take her place on the throne, and of her father.

"_Life is not a fairytale, Odette. We can't marry anyone we want. Sometimes we have to marry people we don't want to."_

"_Why can't we marry anyone we want?"_

"_Because we have a duty to our country to be the best rulers we can be. In order to do that, we need a good partner._"

Odette sighs, knowing she's lost the argument. She's out of excuses or fears. "Okay then," she says, lifting her head up to look him in the eye. "Let's go."

"Now?" Tulio asks, eyes widening in surprise. Odette laughs and shakes her head.

"No, not now! We gotta get some money from my uncle first. Do you guys still do dowries here?" Odette asks, not waiting for his answer. "Back home lower-class families do. What my uncle doesn't know won't hurt him. We'll just steal a little bit of money and be gone before anyone misses me. Or the money."

Tulio smiles and starts walking toward the palace, muttering about how more pockets means they can steal more money. Odette smiles.

Because, while her life is not a fairytale, it's still turning out pretty good.


End file.
